Duff On His Way To Sunderland

News today which doesn’t really come as much of a surprise with Sunderland reported to be prepared to smash their wage structure to sign Newcastle United’s Irish International Damien Duff.

Damien Duff – on his way to Sunderland

Reports in the News of the World say that Duff is the No 1 target for Roy Keane’s side as he looks to build up his squad for next season.

NOTW say Sunderland are prepared to make the winger the club’s highest paid player, and we believe Newcastle will be only too willing to sell.

Once Newcastle were willing to let Emre go, Duff fits into a similar category as the Turkish International, and was bound to be expendable.

He has great skills, has under-performed for the team over the last couple of years, and is more often than not out injured and the player is on massive wages on Tynesdie.

We would expect this deal to go through as long as Newcastle get the Â£5M they paid to Chelsea 2 years ago.

Then every fan will be wondering who the Tyneside club is going to bring in after Carr, Ramage, Diatta, Troisi, Emre and Duff will have already left with Ameobi and Rozehnal almost certainly also leaving in the summer.

Newcastle are prepared to off-load the left-sided midfielder for Â£5M in an effort to reduce their wage bill, which is in excess of Â£70M.

We fully expect Duff to leave Newcastle in the near future, and believe Sunderland are well positioned to sign him.

Another player we expect Newcastle will be willing to sell, once some buyers come in, is striker Alan Smith.

69 comments so far

Would’nt be a great loss. Especially if we keep Zog and the possibility of signing Arda….Big wages going out the door as well. With Emre gone, this looks a real possibility now. I wonder if these are with KK blessing?

Aii he’s a crock, but without all these fringe players we are struggling to put 11 players on the field! Everyone knew last season that our midfield was piss poor, too slow, had no creativity…so it doesn’t surprise me that they are all getting shipped out.. the surprising thing is that we are selling before buying? We have the cash flow to buy what we want, AND THEN ship out the dead wood?!

duff is shite so godo ridance. another cling on off the books and it frees of the left side for zogs to own outright which is about bloody time. we can not keep a bloke of that quality odwn forever, we need to let him loose and i think he is a key player. we are down to the bare bones though, no doubt about it. its one thing getting shot of duff, emre adn smith etc but it would be foolish to get rid of milner, he is too versatile and is worth keeping!!

No much of an over haul hey KK, lol. He is probaby pressured, but i am happy if we get the same or more money for them, I heard that Keane was gonna make a join Â£10m bid for Duff and Smith. Quality. I would like us to keep Milner though. But Ameobi, Rozenhal, and Cacapa can go too. Then we can focus on younger and proven class. Arda for the left with him n Zog competing. Emana, Veluso, and Diane in. Colocini, and Hyypia. Gomis

2 from 3 options lb , rb or cb again 2 from these 3 cm or a striker or am

now barton is in jail and emre is gone . that makes 2 more smith duff cacapa ameobi that makes 4 more hoping lua lua and caroll breaks in we subtract 2 so in all we need 4+2+2 = 8 players if milner goes , make that 9 for having a squad fit for all season

What’s amused me over the past week or so is watching how desperate a few people on this site are to keep hold of the players that are responsible for the clubs demise as much as any manager.

If by the end of next week Duff, Smith and Ameobi are gone, as well as Emre, then good work has been done. [The forgetfullness concerning Emre’s racist charges has been very apparent.] Anything would be better than them imo; a young player with a bit of talent and a lot of hunger would be a huge improvement on all of them.

Shame about Barton cos criminal or not he looked like he was improving and putting together some decent passing play. Fact is though, if he is unlucky at the end of june he’ll see a decent 3-5 stretch or, if he’s lucky, have another six months added to his current sentence; so either way he’s blatantly out on his ear.

A central defender, a left back, a right back, a wide left midfielder, a world class spoiler and a young striker imo. Seems like a few players but with the wage bill free of people like Smith, Emre and Duff and the stragglers that were let go, it shouldn’t be an issue.

However, as a footnote. It would rather seem that recent actions would suggest that we have managed to persuade Zog to stay and that we will not be selling Milner. Other wise things are starting to look a bit weird.

i see this as clearing the way (adding more to te wage budget) for us to go on a spending spree once the window opens, it all makes sense when you think about it. MA is worried about the wage expenditure so offload the highly paid deadwood as quickly as possible before july then blitz the market for the players that we want. I predict we’ll bring in about 4-5 players in the space of 2 weeks and everyone will be wondering what they were worrying about.

Also they wouldn’t be shipping out players like duff and emre if they werent positive about landing a few replacements, I reckon we’ve already tied a few up and knowing KK he’ll keep it quiet until we unveil, we’ve nothing more on the likes of Turan or Gomis recently, whos to say that’s not because the businss is already finalised but we are keeping it quiet. woodgate is a perfect example, ppl didnt realise he’d agreed to go to tottenham untill another club (us) went in him for him and then the news had to come out, it’s not very professional to announce it untill they are ready to be pictured wearing the black and white, and with the Euro’s coming up that’s not gonne happen just yet is it

stephen hunt as a replacement anyone ? Â£3mil from reading seems a good offer and would be a good squad player, him and hopefully zogs battling for the left side of midfield , if we play 4-4-2 that is lol

Suspicions that Obafemi Martins was swinging the lead over his failure to appear in two internationals this week have given way to genuine concerns over his fitness.

Speaking to journalists ahead of Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier with South Africa, coach Shaibu Amodu said:

â€œObafemi said he had a scan on his ankle and the doctors said heâ€™d be out for eight weeks.â€

With Mark Viduka already expected to be sidelined through injury for the opening weeks of the season, these so-far unconfirmed reports are anything but encouraging – whether we’re seeking to keep or sell the striker

Talking about selling players, then mentioning all these other foreign players to bring in? where does that fit into the six + 5 rule? surely this will be in the back of the managers mind aswell as ma’s.

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Transfers Summer 2017

Player

Fee

Club

INCOMING

Christian Atsu

£6.2M

Chelsea

Florian Lejeune

£8.8M

Eibar

Jacob Murphy

£10M

Norwich

Javier Manquillo

£4.5M

Atletico Madrid

Mikel Merino

£2.5M Loan – season

Borussia Dortmund

Kenedy

Loan – season – pending

Chelsea

Joselu

£5.0M

Stoke City

Transfer Fees In

£37.0M

OUTGOING

Vurnon Anita

Released

Aston Villa

Sammy Ameobi

Released

Bolton

Haris Vuckic

Released

FC Twente

Lubo Satka

Released

FC DAC 1904

Florian Thauvin

£10.0M

Marseille

Kevin Mbabu

£1.0M

Young Boys

Matz Sels

Loan – season

Anderlecht

Yoan Gouffran

Released

Goztepe

Adam Armstrong

Loan – season

Bolton

Lewis Gibson

£1.0M Up to £5M in add-ons

Everton

Daryl Murphy

£2.0M

Nottingham Forest

Ivan Toney

Loan – season

Wigan Athletic

Transfer Fees Out

£14.0M

Net Spend

£23M

Preseason Friendlies 2017

Club

Location

Date

Hearts Won 2-1

Tynecastle

Friday 14th July 7:45pm

Preston Drew 1-1

Deepdale

Saturday 22nd July 3:00pm

Bradford Won 4-0

Valley Parade

Wednesday 26th July 7:30pm

Mainz 05 Lost 2-1

Opel Arena, Mainz

Saturday 29th July 4:00 pm local time

Wolfsburg Won 3-1

AOK Stadium, Wolfsburg

Wednesday 2nd August 4:00pm local time

Hellas Verona Wopn 2-0

St. James’ Park

Sunday 6th August 3:00pm

football club

It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.